Posted By Joanne Davidson On October 2, 2007 @ 10:31 am In News | No Comments

… there might not be a Katharine McPhee.
At least that’s what I found out from one of her most ardent fans, Kathleen Ahearn of Longmont.
Kathleen’s the only Denver-area person registered at katherinesfans.com and when she learned, via my column in The Denver Post, that McPhee, the 2005 “American Idol” runner-up, was to be part of the David Foster and Friends entertainment lineup at last Saturday’s High Hopes Tribute Dinner, she sent an email encouraging me to interview McPhee while she was here.
The stars — Smokey Robinson, George Lopez, Kenneth “Babyface” Edmonds, Foster and McPhee — weren’t available for interviews that night, so I asked Ahearn if she knew of any Denver connections that McPhee might have. The answer was yes, and she proceeded to fill me in:
“Both Katharine’s parents, Peisha and Daniel McPhee went to college in Denver,” Ahearn writes. “I wasn’t able to find out what college Dan McPhee attended but, Peisha McPhee holds a BFA degree in musical theater from Loretto Heights College in Denver. I believe that today it is known as Teikyo Loretto Heights University. Katharine’s grandfather, Roger Fee, was the dean of the Lamont School of Music for several years at Denver University.
Dan McPhee, Ahearn continues, is a television producer whose works include “The Incredible Hulk Returns,” a 1988 work starring Bill Bixby and Lou Ferigno. Peisha McPhee is a cabaret performer and recording artist and currently serves as artistic director, with Mel Dangcil, of the Cabaret Performance Workshop at Los Angeles City College. Their teaching techniques, Ahearn reports, “Received national acclaim and recognition, most notably on the Discovery Channel’s series, Slice of Life. Peisha also maintains a private studio practice in Sherman Oaks, Calif., where her students range in age from 11 to 75.”
So there you have it. You learn something new every day.

To see pictures from the High Hopes Tribute Dinner, visit denverpost.com/SeenGallery. Another blog about the dinner will be posted by late afternoon today.

Denver Post Society Editor Joanne Davidson can be reached at 303-809-1314 or jdavidson@denverpost.com. Her column appears every Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday.